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Recently, Pastor Enoch Adeboye, The General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, was alleged to have ordered that a genital test be conducted on any couple who wants to marry in the church.

This new order was contained in a memo issued by Pastor J. F. Odesola, The Assistant General Overseer (Admin and Personnel), to all concerned pastors in the church.

From the memo, it was gathered that the new order was given because of re-occurring cases of marital crises as a result of falsehood, especially in the case of undisclosed reproductive/genital status.

The memo reads:

“The Mission Authority has observed the recurrence of cases of marital crises resulting from falsehood, especially in the case of undeclared or unconfessed reproductive/genital status,”

“We have the directive of the general overseer to instruct all the Mission’s outpost that forthwith, pre-marital medication examinations for intending couples should also include genital test.

“Further, Provinces are requested to register with particular [trusted] Government Approved Hospital for the various pre-marital medical examination for intending couples.

Remain blessed in this season of songs of victory in Jesus name Amen
Pastor J.F Odesola”

See memo sample below:

The Controversies:

Hmmmmm….

I am a huge fan of full disclosure of health status, among other things before marriage, but doing that before a church committee or group of Pastors/Deacons as the case may be? I don’t know about that!

One of the things I applaud about RCCG is their loaded pre-marital counseling sections. In fact, I am a beneficiary of that. However, I think that this alleged addition of a genital test as a prerequisite for getting married isn’t necessary.

I see genital issues as something that is private to couples concerned. Some people know about their partners sexual issues and still go ahead with the marriage. In the course of the marriage, some of these couples get medical solutions to the sexual issues while the others either get a miracle from God, or live through the issues based on the mutual understanding they had at the unset of the union.

The question is:

Will a compulsory pre-marital genital test resolve the sexual issues faced by couples in marriage?

My answer is: No!

My Reason:

There are countless sexual issues faced by couples in marriage, apart from organ/genital malfunctioning. These include:

Instead of getting directly involved with conducting genital tests for intending couples, I think the church should through their pre-marital counseling sections, encourage partners to privately go to an approved medical center and carry out medical tests together, including genital tests and fully disclose and discuss the test results between themselves (the couples), without necessarily involving the church.

Also, with the way our generation is embracing the madness of transgender sexual orientation, more sexual issues are bound to be experienced in the nearest future.

For instance, imagine you are a man/woman getting married to a transgender woman/man respectively. In your mind, you would think you are getting married to the opposite sex, whereas you are actually marrying same sex!

The funny thing about these medical tests is that even in an established case where one may be erroneously getting married to a transgender male/female, the medical personnel cannot disclose it without the trans-gender’s consent!

In other words, open and honest communication is the key!

Intending couples should discuss their sexual interests, fantasies and expectations before marriage.

Celibacy and abstinence doesn’t mean you can’t read good articles on sex and also discuss sex with your intending partner.

It is high time we, especially churches demystified sex because the sexual issues we are having presently was because we treated sex as a sacred topic that was forbidden to be discussed.

What is your take on this pre-marital genital test?

Would you like to undergo a genital test conducted by your church/religious body before getting married?

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I understand that there are different perspectives to this alleged premarital genital test. However, I don’t think that the full disclosure of health status, including issues relating to reproductive organs should be made to the church because it is a very private and delicate matter. Instead, the church should encourage couples to do the disclosure between themselves (the couples). Very sensitive information as this can create more mess for the church than she is trying to solve. Especially should such information get leaked into the public domain. Remember that churches are run by humans.

Another perspective to this premarital medical tests, including genital tests is the issue of consent before disclosure. Most of the health centers used by churches for premarital medical tests disclose the results of such tests directly to the churches without the consent of the couples involved (especially written consent). I never got to see my premarital medical tests (pregnancy and HIV tests) results. It was sent directly to the church by the health center. I think that churches that run premarital medical tests for couples should include a written consent form to be signed by the intending couples in their counseling program. This will take care of some legal implications that may arise in the future.

It is high time churches considered the legal implications of some of their decisions to avoid unnecessary matters arising from such decisions.